After posting kudo’s on Feb 27th to DMC for manufacturing in accordance with Oeko-Tex 100 I have since noticed that Silk & Ivory by Brown Paper Packages now includes on their tags that their product is Mothproofed using Mitin FF. Hmm, what’s that? The following is taken directly from an interview posted on http://knitting.about.com/od/yarn/f/mothproof.htm
“……. the chemical used to mothproof wool, Mitin FF, is added to the yarn in the dye bath at the same time as any coloring that is being added to the yarn. The mothproofing agent adheres to the yarn in a similar way as the dye does.
This means that like dye, the chemical will not rub off or wash off in normal cleaning or dry cleaning. Mitin FF is a pesticide that works by killing the moth larvae when the ingest and digest the wool protein, which means if you do ever get moths in your stash, they won’t be able to do a lot of damage.
But if the chemical kills moths, what can it do to humans? Wells said Mitin FF is relatively harmless if not ingested, and the federal government agrees (whew, now I feel much better knowing our government agree’s. Oh but wait a minute didn’t they also approve DDT and Saccharin?) Mitin FF has been used as a pesticide in the United States since 1948 and is used exclusively by the textile industry for mothproofing wool. Laboratory tests have found the chemical to be “low to moderately toxic” and to have “low mammalian toxicity.”
While there’s no danger from using mothproofed wool, some people prefer not to use yarn with extra chemicals. For those people, a whole new world of organic wools and cottons are coming to the marketplace, allowing you to create without the chemicals.”
More information can be read at: http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/3097fact.pdf Now I’m curious what other wools used in needlepoint have also been treated with Mitin FF. I let you know what I learn. I’m glad there are other threads available these days that may be less harmful. “May” is the critical term.